Read the articles selected in October 2017

Universities have a role in the energy transition and in the fight against climate change, developing curricula e programmes that speak through all fields of scholarship about a low- carbon economy and training the citizens of the future, oriented towards knowledge and prosperity.

Representatives from higher education and the European institutions gathered in a seminar at the European Parliament to prospect a more integrated approach towards the SDGs, requiring institutional synergies and public-private partnership, underlining the central role of universities in fostering change.

World University Rankings 2018 by subject: engineering and computer science results out now

by Ellie Bothwell

Source: Times Higher Education, 17 October

The THE World Universities Rankings 2018 for engineering and technology and computer science represent US universities at the top together with Oxford, but also recognize the growth of Asian institutions in these subjects, a sign of political change about the transformative role of schools in advancing economies and societies.

Inspired by a notion of education transcending the antithesis common good/public good with the concept of human development, the Center for World-Class Universities in Shanghai Jao Tong University aims at cultivating talent, conducting the most advanced research and benefiting all humanity of our interconnected planet.

The first Qudwa Global Teachers Forum in Abu Dhabi has drawn up the teaching profession in the digital era. As like ever, the task of teaching is helping all learners to understand their aspirations and passions. Technology can’t replace a poor education but can boost a great educational work.

The need for enhancing skills of citizens and workers declared by the European Commission has shifted the attention to higher education and governmental institutions from research and research excellence to learning and teaching methods in the sight of a general acceptance of new educational approaches.

The increasing diagnoses of neurodevelopmental disorders put a case for adequate teaching and assessment methods as well as for defining academic goals for children with learning disabilities. Avoiding assessment is not a solution for an inclusive classroom.

German researchers resign from Elsevier journals in push for nationwide open access

by Gretchen Vogel

Source: Science, 13 Ottobre

Negotiations between a German research consortium and the Dutch giant Elsevier about a new payment “publish and read” model for Germany-based researchers have ended with the resignations of five scientists from their editorial positions in the company.

At least 20 European universities are expected to be funded by 2024, after a proposal launched by French President Macron. It’s a project of a network of existing universities with a common curriculum, that would allow the free circulation of students among European countries, creating “a sense of belonging “.

After the technological revolution even the Cité des sciences et de l’industrie in Paris, which in thirty years has lured 89 million tourists turns out to be dated and is organizing a new investment plan to become more interactive and digital.

The New Skills Agenda for Europe aims at a quality professional training for all European citizens, as well as a better use of the available skills through a better understanding of qualifications and the creation of information tools useful for career and learning choices.

Innovation is not only about the latest technological devices but also includes societal change. Opening education to the challenges of digitalization and artificial intelligence requires a school system connected with the outside world of business and local communities and driving the change.

This report photographs Italy in a struggling progress towards a society based on the achievement of relevant skills, giving a series of recommendations in sight of the targets set by the ambitious education and labor reforms of the last years.

Science as a reliable fundament for rational decisions must offer the possibility to reply and confirm its results. The reproducibility crisis doesn’t mean that the scientific system can’t improve through more rigor and transparency.

With a modest amount of mathematics and a bright, admirable style Richard Thaler has developed a model which explains the apparent contradiction in the behavior of the economic agent integrating concepts borrowed from psychology and neuroscience that have changed the face of the economic policy.

A female Nobel winner: the enduring inspiration of the rarest of scientists

by Erika Mancini

Source: Times Higher Education, 29 September

Even though more and more women start a scientific career today, female scientists don’t have the same social standing as male colleagues and are not fully acknowledged in their achievements. The rare female Nobel Prizes in science should inspire new generations.

Internationalisation of higher education is a Western paradigm based on the hegemony of the First-World’ Western knowledge. The glocalization of learning, adopted by the 2030 Agenda, means the construction of knowledge forms that embrace other worldviews, is inclusive and focused on quality and inclusivity.

Timing is everything: U.S. trio earns Nobel for work on the body’s biological clock

by Gretchen Vogel & Erik Stokstad

Source: Science, 2 October

U.S. trio has won this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work on the genes influencing the circadian rhythms, which affect the activity of most other genes in the organisms. The demonstration of the fundamental importance of the biological clock has opened a whole research field.

Even Nobel laureates get wrong sometimes, but science goes forward. The controversies raised every year by the Prizes’ assignment show not only the existence of an establishment, but also that research is not a progressive and linear path, and sometimes it is detached from experience.

Learning environments and effective resources are related to better students performance, playing a role in addressing social inequalities. The allocation of additional funds for disadvantaged schools improves the general science performance, but also teacher support matters.

Within the knowledge economies, the role of universities and their core mission to do research, education, and innovation are central, enabling citizens to navigate in rapidly changing labor markets, while promoting civic values and bringing the European project forward.

The system of editors publishing scientific papers, based on the subscriptions to specialized reviews is high-priced and restricting the access to knowledge. But the monopoly of the major publishers is weakening, while alternative models of open access are standing up.

After Brexit, UK government’s aim is not only to continue the access to European research programs, but it declares to want to make the UK an attractive place for researchers from all around the world and to treat science as a particular case to protect from Brexit effects with extra funding.

To make science more reliable, it is crucial the way candidates for research institutions are appointed and promoted. Reviewers should assess not just how a field would be without a researcher’s contribution, but also the reproducibility of his work, together with his capacity for critical self-reflection.

A Europe leader in innovation needs ambitious investments in research and education. The EU framework programmes for research and innovation support European cooperation in higher education and research, funding projects that would otherwise not be developed and boosting Europe’s long-term competitiveness.